Second Life
by SweeneyGirl310593
Summary: A sequal to my first fic, the Fall and Rise and set 3 years later. Norrin descovers a stange object. once she discovers its secret, madness ensues. Rubbish at summeries, please read and review! Rated for violence and injury.
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**Author's Note: Sequel to my first fic, The Fall and Rise. Obviously spoilers for it so read that first . Crazy idea, I know but bear with me… **

**Second Life**

_**Prologue **_

_**Three years on and the reincarnated Anakin Skywalker has been reinstated as a Jedi Knight and during a number of campaigns and missions has proved himself worthy of his position and gained some degree of acceptance. He has also achieved something he never thought possible and has friendships with his son Luke, the New Jedi and among the ranks of the one-time Rebel forces. He has yet to win the forgiveness of many, though, including his daughter, Leia. **_

_**Meanwhile, young Norrin Reweska has been on a few missions of her own with her mentor, Luke and close friend Anakin as she has grown from child to adolescent. Her latest mission to recover items stolen by Imperial Generals from museums has unearthed a strange artefact of unknown origin and her latest personal project is discovering its function…**_


	2. Chapter I

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**Author's Note: Sequel to my first fic, The Fall and Rise. Obviously spoilers for it so read that first . Crazy idea, I know but bear with me… **

**Second Life**

**Chapter I**

Norrin poured over her new project. Even she was beginning to think this one may defeat her curious mind. The object was beautiful, of different coloured metals with intricate symbols and carvings. She turned to the book of old hieroglyphic languages. None of the symbols bore any resemblance to the engravings on the device. A knock at the door broke her concentration and se hummed a high note by way of inviting her visitor in. "Still deep in those books, are you?" asked an amused voice. Luke.

"Ah-ha. Don't seem to be getting anywhere though" she sighed.

"Come on, Norrin. This planet's beautiful and it has the best weather its had for nearly ten years! Why don't you come look around, see some daylight and people. You might be able to find a study partner. Teegane's been asking for you."

Norrin nodded and emerged into the sunshine. Luke was right, it was beautiful. Teegane ran over, his shoulder-length blond hair flapping behind him. "Blimey!" he said "You've come outside! And about time from the looks of things. You need some sun to turn you green again!". Norrin gave him a shove and broke into an explanation of her absence. Luke smiled and shook his head. It looked like Teegane was going to become very knowledgeable about ancient symbols in the near future.

After a number of weeks, the artefacts were gradually restored to their rightful owners, except for the unknown device, which pleased Norrin greatly. Back on Courisant, she had access to the Jedi Archives and it was there that she finally had a breakthrough. She finally found out where the device was from and, more importantly, what it was intended for from a study of Felucian folklore. At first, she hardly believed it, dismissing her findings as incorrect translation because she appeared to have discovered a device for time travel. An incident the following night convinced her of the truth of this absurd suggestion.

She was attempting to sleep that night. She never had slept well off planet in new ships, it always seemed too quiet, oppressively so. Besides, what with the effect that had once been called 'jet lag', she didn't feel tired at the ship's 'night'. She picked up the device and stared at it, slipping it round her wrist, thinking hard about how she wanted this mind-numbingly boring night to end.

The whole room seemed to convulse and warp. Norrin had a sick feeling in her stomach and she bent over, clenching her teeth. The sensation was over as soon as it began and she straitened up. The strip lighting in the corners of the room flickered into life. What was going on? They were only supposed to be on when the night cycle had ended. She glanced at the clock, which had skipped several hours. Realisation dawned on her that she had, indeed, travelled through time. She began to laugh; after all, surely time travel was fantasy. Though perhaps not, seeing as research into it had been expressly prohibited in the New Republic. She supposed that she would be free from blame as she had only used the end product of that research, and then unintentionally. One thing was for sure, this was definitely one to tell Anakin.


	3. Chapter II

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**Author's Note: Sequel to my first fic, The Fall and Rise. Obviously spoilers for it so read that first . Crazy idea, I know but bear with me… **

**Second Life**

**Chapter II**

"Time travel? Really?" asked Anakin sceptically. This certainly wasn't the reaction Norrin had wanted but it was all she could have expected. Time travel was considered by most as fantasy, belonging to the realms of fiction and by all as dangerous if it were to be proved possible.

"Shall I demonstrate?" she asked, sighing "If you don't believe me, you don't have anything to worry about. Ill set it to random. Don't worry, I've worked out how".

Anakin duly allowed himself to be pulled into this game, soon becoming aware that this was no such thing. The room warped and he found himself falling away from his young friend to land under a tree beside her. A forest at night appeared to have materialised around them.

"Time travel? Really?" she mocked.

"Norrin, what you've found is dangerous. It shouldn't even exist! I really think we should…"

But before he could finish his sentence, they heard a voice ring out, almost as chilling as the words it spoke "I don't care about your little family! You have exactly one minute to hand over the fugitive before we start getting annoyed"

Norrin and Anakin watched as a group of Imperial stormtroopers surrounded a small public house and homestead below the wooded ledge, a tall, iron haired man leading the semi circle. Norrin swallowed as the minute ticked by. "I know that man, Hjan Merott. I put him in charge of a unit of Jedi catchers as Vader" the haunted look came into Anakin's eyes that was always present at the mention of that name "he clearly has singled out this house as a Jedi den".

"Is it?" Norrin asked, quietly.

"I doubt it, Norrin" Anakin's tone was bitter.

Meanwhile, Merott had clearly become sufficiently annoyed to issue orders. "Burn it" he growled to the trooper next to him who threw a small object into the broken window. The room behind instantly ignited.

Before her brain had chance to catch up, Norrin's instinct to help as a Jedi and a decent sentient being kicked in. Anakin was one pace behind as she burst through the next window into the blaze. She looked around at the room, fast disappearing under the flames, searching for the sense of life. Anakin, to his alarm, noticed crates of what he suspected was alcohol for the simple bar's patrons. He didn't have to be a chemistry expert to know that fire and alcohol is an explosive combination. "Ani, the crates!" yelled Norrin.

"I know" he yelled above the roar of the fire "Ill try to hold it, you get everyone out!"

Norrin left Anakin to find them. She burst into a room at the back. Without a word, the family helped her to smash the back window. "Wait, Gent, my son!" yelled the father.

"where's his room?" Norrin asked, earnestly

"At the front"

Norrin rushed back to the door at the opposite end of the hallway. An explosion, flare of light and the sound of booted footsteps told Norrin Anakin's force created shield hadn't been successful and he was aiding the rest of the family. She retuned to the problem at hand. The heat conducted through the walls had melded the metal door shut. Norrin had to fight not to panic as she heard the boy's terrified cries from behind the wall. She drew a rough rectangle in the wall with her lightsaber. She saw Gent's face staring up at her momentarily before getting knocked down by another explosion. Leaping to her feet, she grabbed the boy's hand.

The doorway had become a wall of fire. "only one thing for it!" she shouted, indicating towards the window. The two escapees burst through it just before the flames engulfed the bedroom

"You're Jedi knights, aren't you." Gent's father said. It wasn't a question. Anakin nodded, slightly numb. They were on the family's speeder, heading for their relatives in a city 25 miles north.

"Thankyou for saving my family. If we had no quarrel with your people before, we owe you an incredible debt now".

Anakin nodded again with a wry smile. The two Jedi hopped off after being embraced profusely by the provincial landlord and his family. Norrin jogged after Anakin, clutching a moon pendant. She was touched that even after loosing so much, Gent had given her the trinket. She almost felt guilty for being persuaded to have it.

"You see, the law has it all wrong! Time travel's not dangerous, look at the good it let us do tonight. A family's alive that would have been dead in our time. Maybe we could make this our mission. Liberating slaves, rescuing prisoners…."

"And butchering history? Norrin, I appreciate your enthusiasm but time travel experiments were outlawed for a reason. Suppose we accidentally kill someone who's great grandson invented the cure for Desre Fever. That would wipe out most of the Desrata cluster."

"Home then?" asked Norrin, slumping her shoulders.

"Maybe one more trip" he conceded.


	4. Chapter III

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**Author's Note: Sequel to my first fic, The Fall and Rise. Obviously spoilers for it so read that first . Crazy idea, I know but bear with me… **

**Second Life**

**Chapter III**

The two Jedi emerged from the warp into rather less interesting surroundings. It was what they both suspected of being a storage compartment. _'A very small storage compartment'_, thought Norrin, feeling Anakin's elbow in her back. "Ani, get off!" she grumbled.

"Where am I supposed to go?" he replied just as tersely.

"Out!" Norrin said, throwing her weight on what she guessed was the door's control panel. She got lucky, bursting out of the door, which shut behind her.

'Lucky' may have been an inaccurate word to use because she found herself staring down the barrels of six standard issue Imperial blasters wielded by six standard issue stormtroopers.

"You know it's an offence to stowaway on an Imperial military vessel, though that's the least of your worries. You're gonna have to come with us" the leader informed her, his fellows dragging her roughly to her feet. "Not the bridge" the man told them "our Lord and Master will want to speak to this Jedi himself."

Anakin meanwhile was still in the compartment, fighting down a feeling of panic. He held the time device in his hand tight. From the nanosecond he had materialised he knew where they were. He hadn't seen his surroundings but the place positively reeked of the force stench of the Sith. If _he_ was here, there was only one Imperial military ship it could be, the Super Star Destroyer _Executor_.

Before the completion of the Death Star, the _Executor_ had been the most feared ship in the galaxy. Not only for its immense size and firepower but for who it nearly always brought with it. Darth Vader and his special forces were stationed here and Anakin could feel the presence of his former self and alter ego like radioactive chemicals. And if they were taking Norrin to him, Anakin knew that he would have to reach her fast. _'So much for not butchering history. I wonder what happens when people meet themselves'._

Norrin was unceremoniously thrown to the floor of a large reception chamber, having been dragged across it by two of her captors. She now knew exactly who they were referring to as 'Lord and Master'. Darth Vader. The deep, unnaturally regular breathing, aided by cybernetic ventilators attested to that. She looked up as the troopers delivered their report at the towering, angular figure, his dark armour punctuated by diagnostic lights on the suit's many life support systems. Somehow, it was more chilling than she had expected and yet she felt a strange calm. She knew the man beneath that mask, knew what he had once been and what he would be again. She couldn't feel any true hatred or fear for him, only pity.

The troopers left, as Vader stood at the window of the vast room, looking at the Standard Star Destroyer _Dominance_ bisecting the vista of stars. He turned and faced Norrin, now on her feet. "Your name, Jedi?" he asked at last.

"Norrin" she answered, looking strait beyond the mask.

"Where are your comrades, Norrin?" he rumbled.

"I don't know".

"I expected that" he answered flatly.

"I am alone. I've met no others since you torched the Jedi Temple" she bluffed. What else could she say, after all? That she was a friend from a future life?

"I know you are lying. I can sense another force sensitive aboard this ship. You are part of an organisation operating from somewhere. There is no other way that a child would be capable of boarding the _Executor_ undetected." He told her, circling.

"Why would I tell you?"

"Because it will be more unpleasant for you if you are to refuse" he stated.

Norrin could see no good way out of this. She glanced in desperation at her lightsaber, hanging on Vader's belt beside his own. He had noticed. They stood facing each other in a frozen moment. She grabbed her weapon with the force, seizing the opportunity.

With a suddenness that took her breath from her lungs, she was thrown to the opposite wall, her lightsaber clattering to the floor. An unpleasant crack and an explosion of pain up her arm informed her that she had broken her wrist.

"For the last time, Jedi, where is your organisation?"

"I don't…" she gasped through the sharp pain.

Vader seemed to have lost his patience, "so be it" he intoned. Norrin felt her neck tightening around her windpipe as she was pulled into an upright position. She twitched grotesquely, occasionally clawing at her neck. She wanted to scream but all she could muster was a chocked cry. Her lungs burned, screaming for air. Then a terrible numb feeling began to encase her body's extremities and her mind. Time slowed to a crawl as she felt oxygen starvation eating away at her conscious mind. In a final assertion of her own will she yelled both physically and mentally the name of the only person who could help her "ANAKIN!"

Her body hit the floor with a dry slap. "What did you say? What did you call me?" asked Vader, too quietly to be picked up by his vocal enhancer. His voice sounded like it was grating on sand as it came out.

"Its your true name isn't it?" she rasped.

Suddenly Norrin's salvation came in the form of an alarm over the ships public address system. Vader roughly pushed Norrin aside as he swept out of the room like a bird of prey. His breathing was slightly more laboured than usual, showing how deeply the mention of his former name had actually affected him…

Anakin watched from the corner, transfixed by the horrible spectacle of his friend being tortured by the man he had once been. It was only because he still remembered the alarm code that it had ended. As soon as Vader swept past him, Anakin leapt to Norrin's side, lifting her gently into his arms.

She looked terribly pale, her hand was twisted unnaturally and her green eyes rolled back into her head. "Norrin! Norrin listen, you have to stay awake. You need a hospital so you have to get us home. I'm sorry." He pushed the device into her hand. She squinted down at it, barely managing to operate it before fainting.

As the klaxons vanished, Anakin found himself in one of the corridors of the rebuilt Jedi Temple, still holding his injured friend, the sunset pooling around them. He felt Norrin's chest. It was barely moving.

"HELP!" he yelled "Help please, she's dying!" he cried, gripped by panic.

The next ten minutes passed in a blur. Two other Jedi came running out of their respective rooms and commlinked for help. "Hold on, girl" Anakin told his friend before she was carried off by their fellows.


	5. Chapter IV

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**Author's Note: Sequel to my first fic, The Fall and Rise. Obviously spoilers for it so read that first . Crazy idea, I know but bear with me… **

**Second Life**

**Chapter IV**

A few hours later, Anakin found himself standing next to his daughter, looking at Norrin lying in the medical bed, sleeping. Her emerald colour had returned and her wrist was bound in a cast. A kindly nurse bent over her, checking her heart rate. New medical developments existed quite happily alongside traditional care.

When the healer, Dr Simoon had seen Norrin, there was considerable speculation as to the source of her unusual injuries. "Her windpipe has sustained severe bruising but there's not a mark on her neck externally. Which raises the disturbing probability that she was attacked by a force sensitive. Either a fellow Jedi or a renegade. Do either of you know of anyone within the Order who'd do this. Bullies maybe?" He had asked him and Leia.

"No, no-one" Leia had said. After all, Norrin was one of those inoffensive people who are universally liked. Anakin had likewise shaken his head. "A word" Leia had ordered flatly as the healer left "you know who it was, I can feel it".

So he had no choice but to explain it to her and it was clear she only half believed him. So now they stood here in frosty silence. '_No change there, then_' he thought. The conversations between him and his daughter were strained at best. She had made it quite clear that he was her father in no more than biology and that Bail Organa would be grandfather to her children.

"What have I done?" he asked, shaking his head, his voice wavering "You know, when that very girl helped bring me back from the dead, I made a promise that I would never hurt another innocent person, force sensitive or not. And now I've done it again…"

"It wasn't you" Leia replied softly "It was Vader"

"That aside, I still hold responsibility. I should have told her to bring us strait home and instead, I let her take us to quite possibly one of the most dangerous places we could have gone. She's a child." His eyes were rimmed with tears.

Leia was taken aback, she had never seen a genuine demonstration of remorse from Anakin before. '_I probably have, in fairness but I've always been too closed minded to see it. Is it time to change, to forgive or at least to listen…'_ "It wasn't your fault" _can I say it? _"Father".

Anakin looked at her with an expression of such shock that she felt rather embarrassed. He clearly realised this because he forced a casual smile and fixed his eyes ahead. "Thankyou" he said simply. She reached across, squeezed Anakin's hand and smiled fleetingly. Perhaps it wasn't complete forgiveness, perhaps she would never think of him as her true father. Friendship was all he could really expect and besides, it was right that she considered the man who raised her to be her father. It was definitely a start though…


	6. Outro

**Disclaimer: George Lucas and his companies and their shareholders own Star Wars. Any unrecognisable characters and scenarios are mine.**

**Author's Note: Sequel to my first fic, The Fall and Rise. Obviously spoilers for it so read that first . Crazy idea, I know but bear with me… **

**Second Life**

**Epilogue**

Norrin awoke feeling stiff and with a dull pain in her wrist but otherwise feeling fine, to see Leia smiling gently at her. "He wants to see you. He feels terrible". Leia's words told Norrin what she had hoped for for her friend for a long time had happened. She had finally begun to forgive him for Vader. Considering that three years ago she had refused to call him anything but that name and had become distant towards Norrin, telling her that she couldn't possibly understand how evil and hated Vader had been.

Anakin walked in, looking abashed. Before he spoke she cut him off with a grin. A slow smile spread across Anakin's face as he came to embrace his young friend.


End file.
